Jurist to rule on York County strip search lawsuit

PORTLAND – A federal judge said he will rule within a few weeks on whether to accept a proposed $3.3 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit by people who were strip-searched at the York County Jail between 1996 and 2004.

Some of those who were forced to remove their clothing before being searched at the Alfred jail attended a hearing Monday before Judge D. Brock Hornby as he considered one of Maine’s largest civil rights settlements ever.

While some of the 1,350 people who stand to share in the settlement expressed relief that the case appears to be resolved, Margaret Hand said money was not her only concern and she would want most of all to get an apology.

“For me, it was more about healing,” said Hand, whose share of the settlement would be $2,800. “What I most want is a sincere apology, and that is what I am most unlikely to get.”

Hand said she was traumatized by the search, which occurred after she was arrested in 2001 for disorderly conduct when she objected to her truck being towed. The charges were eventually dropped.

The lawsuit contended that the York County Sheriff’s Department broke the law by requiring all persons brought to the jail to strip and shower in front of an officer – no matter how minor the charge brought against them.

Jail officials contended that the searches, conducted by guards of the same sex, were not technically strip searches because they did not always include body cavity inspections.

An agreement reached between the two sides in December received preliminary approval, and Hornby’s decision would be the final step toward compensating the class members. Women would receive $2,800 payments and men would get $1,400.

A similar class-action lawsuit against Knox County is pending in U.S. District Court in Portland, but it is not expected to be resolved this summer.

The attorney in that case recently filed a motion for summary judgment, but U.S. District Judge Gene Carter has not yet ruled on whether the county will have to pay damages to people who were strip searched at the Knox County Jail.

The Knox County case originally was filed in 2002 by Laurie Tardiff of Thomaston. She was arrested on Feb. 7, 2001, in Rockland on a felony charge of tampering with a witness.

She also was charged with violating conditions of release, a misdemeanor. Both charges were dismissed in September 2002.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs in York County had estimated that as many as 7,500 people could be eligible for payments, but fewer than one-fifth that number came forward.

Under the proposed settlement, York County agreed to change its search policy by giving detainees a place behind an opaque glass screen to change into jail uniforms.

People arrested for violent felonies, drug offenses and weapons charges are still subject to full strip searches.

The county also agreed to pay money to the class members, but did not acknowledge any pattern of constitutional violations.

York County agreed to settle the case because its size and complexity would have made it expensive to litigate, said Peter Marchesi, the Waterville attorney who represents York and Knox counties in both lawsuits.

Attorneys for both sides in the Knox County suit said Tuesday that the cases are not enough alike for the York County settlement to impact the outcome of the Knox case.

“That’s quite a different case than ours,” Dale Thistle, the Newport attorney for Tardiff, said. “The numbers are different and the facts of the case are different.”

About 4,350 men and women underwent strip searches and they all included body cavity searches in Knox County, which was not the case in York County, he said.

The attorney said some of the men and women were searched on more than one occasion and he estimated that as many as 13,000 strip searches were conducted at the Knox County Jail.

“That number dwarfs the number of plaintiffs in the York County case,” said Thistle, stressing also that the majority of cases in York had not involved body cavity searches.

Marchesi disagreed with Thistle’s numbers and with how many involved body cavity searches.

“We haven’t seen a list [of individuals in the class],” he said. “Based on our understanding of the general population at both facilities, the York County numbers would be higher because it’s a larger facility.”

Marchesi disputed the claim that everyone brought into the Knox County Jail was subjected to a body cavity strip search.

“That is just wrong,” Marchesi said. “From the intake logs, it’s very clear when somebody was searched.”

Bangor Daily News Reporter Judy Harrison contributed to this report.